Ormoc mayor denies relief goods left to spoil

ORMOC CITY – Mayor Richard Gomez has denied allegations the city government failed to distribute over R7.8 million worth of relief goods to earthquake and flood victims in 2017.

Gomez slammed “erroneous reports” that came out on GMA News Online “implying that there were R7.8 million worth of relief goods that were spoiled.”

In a letter to Jaemark Tordecilla, editor-in-chief of GMA News Online, Jasper Lucero, the city legal counsel, said “there are only 35 tins of sardines in our stocks that were spoiled, probably from transport, and their expiry dates are yet in 2019.”

Lucero said the sardines were delivered by BOSS, a reputable store, which has committed to replace the tins in question.

“Our city was swamped by donations from concerned citizens and since the needs of our calamity victims, especially the earthquake victims, are long term, it was decided to judiciously distribute the relief goods regularly so that they are not swamped with so many relief goods at one time and then suddenly, nothing,” he said.

Lucero said the city continued to distribute relief goods to the earthquake victims until last January. Distribution was suspended on April and May because of the election ban.

“We have resumed the distribution and next week, we will have the fourth distribution for the year consisting of family packs with 6 kilos rice, 4 cans of sardines, four tins of beef loaf, corned beef, sardines each and 4 packs noodles to the 2, 272 families,” he said.

He also denied a Commission on Audit (COA) report that the goods were not stored properly “causing them to rot.”

“Mayor Richard Gomez ordered all relief goods, city-bought and donated, to be stored at the City Hall lobby where the ‘Incidence Command Post’ was stationed. This was so that everything was transparent and for everybody to see.” Lucero said.

Civic organizations and NGOs were asked to take charge of receiving donated goods and recording even the items the city bought, he said.

The groups also helped distribute the goods, and efforts were made for the goods to be evenly distributed.

Lucero demanded that GMA News